Much of my life I was quick to offer help in the way of advice. Slowly I learned more about how much I do not know and worked to adjust that. Now I'm trying to figure out if I have overshot and now seem distant to people who are actually asking me to share my perspective.

This seems to be a common condition for us human beings: we travel from one extreme to another. This is why my most fervent prayer is that God would keep me from causing harm through my ministry...the words on this blog and time spent with folks affected by incarceration. I am acutely aware of how fragile we all are. I long to offer new ways of thinking about situations that might encourage folks to embrace a more intentional relationship with the God who loves them. And I yearn to do this without my own limitations causing any additional harm to any of God's children.

So I understand Moses as related in Exodus 4:10-12: Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

So I ask you to bear me up in prayer that God will teach me what to say. Pray for those who are incarcerated and otherwise involved in the legal system, and for the people who love them. Pray for all who work to bring the Word of Truth to the hurting, the angry, the fearful, the lonely. We covet your prayers today and always.